Judge Merrick Garland to be nominated as new SCOTUS Justice

Not sure how this will go over. Republicans would be crazy to refuse considering how good the chance is that Hillary will be the next president. Even if it were Trump, there's a good chance that they wouldn't like his nominee, either. It's unfortunate that Garland will likely be very anti-4th amendment and will probably rule in favor of the government in any future spying/hacking cases that find their way to the Supreme Court, but I don't know if there would be a chance at someone more conservative.

Thankfully his views of the 2nd amendment are a lot more moderate than that of what would now be a heavily liberal SCOTUS.

So with the statements from the GOP about refusing to hear any nominee, I wonder what will change? This guy is really the best they're going to get.

Majority of the public want hearings, this is potentially damaging. Democrats are well within striking distance of retaking the senate. A number of the senators elected republican during 2010 are in blue or swing states, and up for re-election soon. Anything that causes even minor harm could easily tip the scales in these upcoming contests.

That combined with the failure of the GOP (on several levels, not just this) to get anyone remotely electable in position to face hillary in the general, raises the reasonable likelihood of president Hillary with a Democratic senate. For the GOP this would be the worst possible outcome, and it's a pretty likely one too.

The fate of the SCoTUS isn't a hot issue for the electorate, how a candidate responds to SCoTUS stuff really doesn't factor in at all. Which only makes McConnells actions even more confusing, why take an issue that no-one cares for, when given a decent deal, and then turn it into easy ammo for the Democrats? Sure there's the potential for a much better deal from his perspective on this one issue, but a Cruz presidency with a Rep senate are pretty unlikely. And holding out for that doesn't make ANY sense, everyone in the GOP hates cruz. Sure he'd select the most conservative possible dude ever but this is just one issue. In every other respect, it'd be pretty terrible for him.

Join us as we watch 2016 - Political Suicide in slow motion - Starring the GOP!